It was a wintry night in Huntsville, with many roads closed after a crusting of ice fell atop already snowy lanes. It was great hockey weather, but for the home fans, it wasn’t a great hockey result. The visiting Ferris State Bulldogs (13-18-1, 10-13-0 WCHA) scored two quick first-period goals and held on thereafter, winning 2-1 over the homestanding UAH Chargers (8-19-4, 7-15-1 WCHA).
Both Bulldog goals came on poor defensive zone passes. At 4:33 of the first, senior forward Dominic Panetta (Baldwin, Mich.) picked a puck off and skated in alone on UAH sophomore netminder Carmine Guerriero (Montréal, Qué.), potting a shorthanded goal. Sophomore forward Chad McDonald (Battle Creek, Mich.) took a pass from freshman forward Tyler Andrew (Bethel Park, Pa.), who had just intercepted a puck in front of the UAH bench.
I expect that it’s no surprise that Michael and I have a backchannel during games. Post-game, he commented, “Lost it in the first, didn’t win it in the 2nd and 3rd.” He’s right.
The second period is notable only for its penalties. An early UAH power play was nullified four seconds later by a holding minor. Two penalties :07 apart by sophomore forward Cody Marooney (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and freshman defenseman Richard Buri (Nitra, Slovakia) left UAH killing a long 5×3 situation, which they did fairly easily, allowing just three shots-on-goal on the disadvantage. UAH is still the #1 team in combined special teams.
A carry-over penalty from the 2nd period gave the Chargers 1:55 of a man advantage on clean ice. The home squad would score, as freshman defenseman Cody Champagne (Brookfield, Conn.) took a feed from senior forward Alex Carpenter (Portage, Mich.) for a point shot that appeared to rattle around on bodies in front before going to the roof of the net past Ferris State senior goaltender CJ Motte (St. Clair, Mich.). Sophomore defenseman Brandon Carlson (Huntington, Beach, Calif.) got the secondary assist.
Ferris State stymied UAH for the remainder of regulation time. UAH pulled Guerriero (32 sv, 8-12-3) with 1:37 remaining, but the Bulldogs kept UAH to the outside and blocked shots. Motte (18 sv) moves to 13-18-1 on the season.
The two teams face off again on Saturday night to conclude the season series, which the Bulldogs lead 2-1-0.